The relaunched Sharek platform will be available in English, Arabic, Serbo-Croat, Turkish and Swahili

Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera is to relaunch its citizen media
platform Sharek, with new features to include an accreditation
system to recognise trusted contributors and multilingual
content.

According to a release, Al Jazeera's head of new media Moeed Ahmad
told the
UNESCO World Press Freedom conference that the updated system
will run an accreditation service which "will distinguish reliable
and regular submitters of content".

Once contributors reach a certain level "their videos will be
viewable pre-moderation as opposed to the default post-moderation",
the release adds.

Al Jazeera first launched Sharek, which is Arabic for
'share', in 2008, with reportedly more than 70,000 videos uploaded
so far.

According to today's announcement the relaunched platform, which is
due to be available from the third quarter of the year, will allow
users to view content in English, Arabic, Serbo-Croat, Turkish and
Swahili.

The broadcaster is still seeking suggestions and feedback on any
other features which may be desired by users.

"Footage from people on the street has been critical to our
reporting in the region over the last year and a half," Moeed Ahmad
said in a speech to the WPFD ceremony in Tunisia, according to a
release.

"We've received an enormous 70,000 videos from Tunisia, Egypt,
Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and many other countries. At critical
times we were receiving a clip every second. We're extremely
grateful to everyone who has sent in video – they have helped
inform us and our viewers around the world.

"Al Jazeera is committed to fostering a culture of citizen
reporting in communities across the region and worldwide. That is
why visitors to Sharek are able to watch footage that doesn't
necessarily make it onto our screens. It's also why we're training
would-be journalists from communities in the Middle East and
Africa.

“The latest developments to Sharek are in response to feedback
we've received – we're in constant dialogue with our viewers and
readers and look forward to that continued engagement on this
service."

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